First Castle

June 29th, we took our first trip to a castle.  Dunnottar Castle is just a short drive south from here near Stonehaven.  Castles in Scotland are either classified as preserved or ruined, Dunnottar is ruined, except for one room that is preserved (which I can't find a picture of).  Check out this view!  Pretty amazing for sure!  Read here for more about on Dunnottar Castle.

It was quite a hike to get to the castle, I was very impressed the kids walked the whole way there and back!  The top left of this picture is where we started

The views were absolutely amazing!!

The kids cooperated for a few pictures, but there was a potential for a ton of amazing photo ops if they would have cooperated more! 

The loved all the space the could run in!

The North Sea looks almost tropical!

So many fun windows to peak through!

Kyle enjoyed teaching the children about why some of the rocks were bumpy, but the granite was much smoother, since it was stronger.

The drawing room, the only room restored.

My fearless monkey's climbing up for a better view....

 ....glad they didn't fall out!!!

Uncooperative photo op

 The chapel

The Whigs' vault was the infamous prison where 122 men and  45 women were held for nine weeks (with little food and no sanitation) because they refused to accept the Episcopalian style of church which Charles II had imposed on Scotland.

Laundry battle

I never knew how easy laundry was in the US, until we got here!  This machine here is called an integrated washer/dryer.  It is supposed to wash and dry your clothes.  The problem is, to do this, it would take about eight hours, then you would have a load of clean, dry, and incredibly wrinkled clothes!  Also, this integrated machine is much smaller than US machines.

So, in order to not get behind with the laundry, I've learned, I just need to deal with getting the laundry out when it's not completely dry.  But, what to do with it, when I get it out of the machine has evolved.

First, I thought it would be best to just lay in out on our bed to dry.

Then I learned (the hard way) that some of the clothes share their colors with the white bedding (ooops).

After a week or so, I found the drying rack in the laundry closet, so that is what we've been using since.

So, now, the drying rack lives in the hallway or living room full time.  Why put it away one afternoon, just to get it back out the next day?!?

But, the clothes do come out quite wrinkly if I overload the machine.  This is a pair of the my jeans that came, mostly dry, out of the washer/dryer.  Why I do think it's ridiculous to iron jeans, i couldn't possible wear these without ironing them!   

In the last eight weeks, I at least know to only use the "Daily Clean" setting on the w/d machine, which only takes about 4 hours, but the clothes do come out quite damp.  This way, the only clothes I really have to iron are Kyle's work clothes and church clothes.  So I do feel like I've learned a bit, only to have to relearn it all over when we finally get into a house!

So to all our American friends and family, please remember this the next time you complain about doing your laundry!!

Fathers Day at the Highland Games

We enjoyed wonderful weather on Father's Day at the Highland Games in Aberdeen.  You can read more about the highland games here.  Here's a few pictures of our fun.

Too sunny to smile!  Great problem to have!

Hammer toss

Judges measuring.  The old Scottish men were so cute in their kilts!

A pipe band marching to the competition site.  They also had individual bagpipe competitions.

Scottish dancing competition

More dancing, wish I had a video of it, very fun to watch!

They also had carnival type rides that the kids enjoyed.  Of course they don't tell you how much they cost until after you put your children on! £2=$3 each per ride!

The big hit was a rock wall for children to climb, and J couldn't wait to try it out!  He waited at least 30 minutes in line to get a turn!  Before getting the gear on him, the guy walked J up to the height requirement pole, and he was just barely tall enough!

All ready to go!!

He did great!

Ready to come down, he really enjoyed just hanging out!

Other fun things the kids enjoyed were giant bubbles and a small 9-hole put put course.

By mid-afternoon, the kids were hot, tired, and ready to go home, but overall, it was a wonderful way to spend fathers day with a wonderful husband and father!

Adjusting to a Foreign Land

First off, if we haven't gotten to skype or facetime with you yet, I'm so sorry!  I'm not sure where the last six weeks have gone!  I never have been homesick before, so it's quite a new feeling.  The combination of missing everyone, living in FIVE rooms (the compartment), finding a new church, being unprepared to live with very few items that we packed in our luggage and air shipment for over 6 weeks (it will end up being 10-12 weeks), all the food stuff (more on that later), and well basically everything else that goes along with moving to a foreign land has been a challenge to say the least!

BUT...my world is slowing, VERY SLOWING, getting better.  Deep down I know that He put us here for a reason, and that most people would give anything to have this experience of living here, so I'm determined to stop sulking and make the most of it!  We hope to be into a house by the beginning to mid August, just in time for Jake to start Kindergarten at the International School of Aberdeen (ISA), as if there aren't enough HUGE changes going on!!

One of the biggest things to be thankful for is making a few new friends.  Most people who know me would be very surprised to know that I am quite shy and don't really like going out of my comfort zone.  Making friends is like dating, and that is something I was hoping I'd never have to do again!  Thankfully, there is a American Women of Aberdeen (AWA) group here, that has really made the difference.  Through that I've also found an AWA playgroup, as well as Aberdeen Women's Fellowship (AWF).

So as I adjust to life in this foreign land, I will try to be better at blogging about all our adventures!